My Market review

Damien McFerran

We review My Market, a Google Android application that stands in for Android Market

Published on Aug 25, 2009

Google’s Android Market may be easy to use but it’s come under serious fire lately for failing to adapt and evolve as the number of apps available for the Android platform has ballooned.

Therefore it’s unsurprising to discover that developers are coming up with their own solutions via some particularly useful search tools; My Market is just one example.

On the surface it looks very much like the Android Market; the developer has consciously made the decision to base the design of My Market on Google’s original sales portal, thus making the transition between the two less painful.

Just like the Android Market you can browse the various games and applications currently on offer either by popularity or date. When you tap an item, it opens a small icon-based sub-menu which allows you to perform such actions as looking at the app in more detail, tagging it as a recommended item, bookmarking it for consultation later on or removing it from the My Market search altogether.

My Market also allows you to filter the searches that you make by specifying words or developers you wish to ignore. For example, one of the default filters is ‘soundboard’ – something that will undoubtedly please long-term users of the Android Market. Using the developer filter you can make sure that apps created by unscrupulous software companies never sully your beloved Android handset.

While My Market offers loads of neat features that really should have been included in the Android Market as standard, the biggest advantage it has is overall speed – the app is much, much faster to use than Google’s version, which makes browsing a lot more enjoyable.

But before you start saying good riddance to the clunky Android Market, it’s worth noting that My Market can’t be viewed as a serious alternative just yet.

For starters, it still relies on the real thing for purchasing and downloading apps. If you want to buy something using My Market, you have to hold down your finger on the item to fire up the Android Market, where you then make your download as normal.

Another issue is that My Market lacks some key features, such as a ‘My Downloads’ area. Although it helpfully tells you when you’ve already installed something during searches, it would be great to have everything in one place.

My Market is an application that is standing on the brink of being truly essential. If the developer can work to include some more must-have options then this really will be the Android Market replacement you’ve always dreamed of.